Longwood Wins the 2013 Big South Softball Championship
ROCK HILL, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –New Big South member Longwood won four-straight elimination games after falling to Liberty on the first day of the tournament to win the 2013 Big South Softball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting at Winthrop University Terry Field. Longwood defeated Winthrop, 10-2, in the championship game Sunday morning for its first Big South softball title. The Lancers receive the Big South's automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals and will make its first appearance in a NCAA Division I Softball Championship. The national bracket will be announced tonight at 10:00 p.m. live on ESPNU.
The Lancers took the lead in the bottom of the first when Kori Nishitomi advanced home on an error by Winthrop second baseman Kristy Noble. Brook Short slid home when Emily Murphy fouled out to right field.
Longwood jumped to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Sciacca hit a home run into left center with Short on first base.
Back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the fourth gave Longwood an 8-0 advantage. Short, the 2013 Big South Player of the Year, blasted a three RBI homer to right center. The next at bat Sciacca registered her fourth RBI of the game with a solo home run to right center.
Winthrop needed to score one run in the top of the fifth to escape the eight-run mercy rule coming into effect. With two outs and runners on third and first, Melanie Andrea was next at bat and grounded to Longwood shortstop Murphy who was unable to make the out. Zharne Glover scored on the error. The Eagles scored another run off a RBI single by Teja Durante, making the score 8-2 going into the bottom of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Nishitomi hit a RBI double to left field, bringing home Jordan Cox and Carly Adams. The mercy rule took effect and Longwood won the game, 10-2.
Longwood pitcher Libby Morris earned the win, while Chelsea Schoenfeldt took the Winthrop loss. Morris, who was named Tournament MVP, pitched five innings with three hits, no earned runs and two strikeouts. The All-Tournament team appears below.
Libby Morris, P, Longwood (MVP)
Raven Lee, INF, Campbell
Morgan Noad, C, Coastal Carolina
Jessie Winans, SS, Coastal Carolina
McKenzi Corn, OF, Winthrop
Chelsey Schoenfeldt, P/OF, Winthrop
Teja Durante, OF, Winthrop
Brooke Short, UTL, Longwood
Kori Nishitomi, OF, Longwood
Megan Baltzell, C, Longwood
Quotes
Longwood Head Coach Kathy Riley:
“What a good feeling it is to be the first ever Big South Champions for Longwood. Not only to we feel great, but we feel blessed to have this opportunity to be here. The kids were awesome to work with this year, and any time you really have a chance to go to a championship, you’ve got to work so hard to get there. A lot of it is about the personalities, their parents and how they were raised. I think we have a great group of kids and their hard work paid off for them today.”
Winthrop Head Coach Mark Cooke:
"The game just got out of hand. They hit the ball well and hit it out of the park on us. We made a couple of errors in the first inning that gave them a couple of runs but that team hits the ball well. I'm so proud of our kids. In the fifth inning we could have quit, but we came in and scored two. We battled and runners in scoring position. These kids don't know how to quit and that's why we were in the championship game today."
-BigSouthSports.com-